At Verhaeghe Farms, Trust & Tradition Fuel a Thriving Family Business
Photographer / Jubilee Edgell
An impressive family business with a unique approach to operations stands in the heart of Walkerton. Verhaeghe Farms offers beef, pork and lamb meat straight from their farm. Inside the roadside stand, you’ll also find handmade bakery items, including jams and jellies, as well as tallow-based and natural skin care products.
Whether you’re looking to purchase tonight’s meal or buy meat in bulk, Verhaeghe Farms has you covered. Inside the roadside-stand cottage are freshly prepared baked goods and self-care products made with clean, simple ingredients you can feel good about.
One of the unique aspects of this family business is the way it operates. Customers can visit the farmstand at their convenience, pick out the items they desire and leave payment in the designated box. The honor system is alive and well at this family farm’s roadside-stand cottage.
Owned and operated by Dawn and Jason Verhaeghe, the business is located on their property and run by a mix of their children and their significant others. (The Verhaeghes have four children and three grandchildren.)
The Verhaeghes raise animals on the farm and sell beef portions as a quarter, half or full. Pigs are sold as a half or whole hog. They also sell feeder pigs and butcher hogs. Lamb is sold as a whole. They work with two state-inspected butcher shops for processing to make buying from their family farm a pleasant experience.
Currently roaming the farmland are 50 cows, 130 lambs, 45 sows and numerous babies. They farm 250 acres of corn and beans, along with 80 acres of hay, which adds to their product lines—and to the long list of farm work for the family.
Verhaeghe Farms has a long family history in the farming business. The 4-H program played a big role in the family’s life growing up. Today, the family supports 4-H students through their Verhaeghe Farms Open House each March, where they sell sheep and pigs to 4-H kids.
The business is run by family members, all of whom also hold full-time jobs — Jason as a retail salesman at Keystone and Dawn as founder and owner of CleanRite Cleaning Service, which is celebrating 25 years in business serving homes and businesses within a 60-mile radius of Walkerton.
Hunter and Raelyne live and maintain the Hoosier Homestead Farm in Crumstown, where he manages last year’s heifers and yearlings. Seth and Claire maintain the farm on First Road, with heifers from two years ago. Extra teens help on the farm to ensure everything gets done daily, and friends and family pitch in during busy seasons.
Every member of the staff at Verhaeghe Farms is family. Even the newest members—babies who arrived over the past year—have a place in the business as they accompany their moms at the stand.
“Taking care of these youngest members of our family is our highest priority, so if their moms are contributing to the product lines, the babies are here with them,” Dawn says.
Claire manages the skin care line of products, which are based in beef tallow and other single-ingredient solutions. This mindful mama became a new mom less than a year ago, and she keeps that caring perspective when creating her products. She collects fat from cows and renders it herself to produce tallow and sunscreen. Her face wash contains natural products such as castor oil and essential oils. She is passionate about reaching people who appreciate clean, natural products packaged in amber glass jars — no plastic — which can be returned for refills or recycling.
Raelyne is also a new mom, having welcomed the newest little one this past summer. Baking by her side is her mom Cindy, who is the heart behind the line of fresh baked goods. Some fan favorites include sweet breads such as pumpkin, apple cinnamon and lemon blueberry. The most requested item is their homemade cinnamon rolls.
Raelyne also makes chocolate-covered pretzels and the snack favorite Chex mix. She cooks with simple ingredients that bring fresher flavors than a boxed cake can deliver, and she welcomes custom orders for holiday dessert pies. Future plans include expanding to farmers markets and community fairs.
With the carefully curated line of products, it’s worth noting that this business has only been running since June of this year. However, they already have a solid system in place. Baking happens several times a week, and it’s “first come, first served” unless you pre-order.
Verhaeghe Farms is located at 69515 Sweetbrier Road in Walkerton and can be reached by calling 574-274-2424.
